Dolan on Malstrom

Author and UFO researcher Richard M. Dolan has a take on the recent Malstrom Controversy between former Air Force captain Robert Salas and James Carlson, the son of Eric Carlson, who was the Echo Flight Commander the night the incident in question happened (at Malstrom AFB).

Both Carlsons contend that the UFO incident never happened and that Salas (and researcher Robert Hastings) are liars and trying to simply make a buck on a ‘non-incident.’

While Dolan tends to believe the Salas account, he’s not convinced of a final conclusion yet:

[…]

Declassified U.S. government documents do not explicitly support the scenario that a UFO hovered over any of Malmstrom’s Flights in 1967. Moreover, I will say that what happened at the Echo Flight is not a 100 percent certain thing. Hastings and Salas have argued that this was a UFO-related event. All I can say about that is, I believe this is probably the case. However, without fully credited documentary evidence, one can still argue that this was not a UFO event, despite one declassified document confirming that the missiles there did go off line. (emphasis mine, d)

What is surprising, when I come down to it, is that I am more persuaded by the evidence supporting a UFO incursion over the Oscar Flight. No, there are no direct witnesses who have come forward and there are no government documents. But there are enough people willing to talk about their connection to it that I believe it probably happened as they have told it.

Furthermore, since I believe Bob Salas is truthful – despite some early mistakes in his telling of the story – I have no reason to doubt him when he said he heard of the same thing at another location, indicating that there may well indeed have been a UFO over Echo.

No doubt my own examination of this case will not please the critics, but I sincerely thank them for bringing it to my attention. I hope that they understand that, whatever I have said, I have done so in a spirit of discovery and collegiality.

I want to add that when I began looking into the allegations, I did not do so with a preconceived conclusion in mind. I tried very hard to let reason, not emotion, be my guide. I admit that the allegations about Salas disturbed me, but I was determined not to let that guide my own analysis. There is no use investing yourself in a bad case. Everyone makes mistakes at one point or another. No one is immune to that fate, and the best solution is simply to prevent yourself from becoming emotionally attached to any conclusion. Therefore, when we learn new information, we can always modify our position.

At this stage, I remain of the opinion that there was indeed one or more UFO events connected with the shut-down of missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base. The case is not the slam-dunk that many of us had assumed, but I believe it is stronger than the critics have argued. And I certainly am not persuaded that key promoters of the case are liars.

Sorting out precise dates and sequences years after the fact is always going to be messy. It has happened many times and will continue to happen. Added to this is the fact that the U.S. Air Force, as well as every segment of the U.S. defense and intelligence establishment, has never cooperated on the release of UFO-related information — for reasons that one may defend or attack. In such a situation, it is not realistic to expect claimants of a case to provide the smoking gun that skeptics demand.

Having said that, it remains the responsibility of claimants to UFO encounters to provide the best case they possibly can. There are no excuses for sloppiness. The phenomenon is already difficult enough to study.

Again although Dolan believes the Salas account, he’s not so convinced of an UFO incident at this site, he’s more convinced of an incident at another site site (Oscar Flight) where the witnesses agree and are credible.

Ever since I started to keep track of the UFO ‘community’ four years ago, I have to agree with Dolan in that the field is hard enough to study with people spreading around half-truths and lies. As for my own conclusions about this; I have read some of James Carlson’s book and I agree with Dolan in that it seems the work of a rather ticked-off person, but it’s still an informative read, perhaps more so than the Salas account.

Do I think that the Carlsons believe their account is true? Oh, most assuredly so.

Can I say the same about Salas? I’m not as convinced as Richard Dolan is. I need to read more on it.

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2 responses

Unfortunately Dolan didn’t read James Carlson’s expose book very well — as it’s well documented there was no UFO event anywhere at Malstrom. There was only one complete missile shutdown at Malstrom — at Echo Flight — and Salas claimed he was at Echo Flight, which was not true. Salas and Hastings have continued to lie about Malstrom claiming Carlson and Figel are witnesses to UFOs when in fact Carlson and Figel have both stated emphatically there were no ufos at Malstrom.

So not only was there no ufos at Oscar flight – there was not even a shutdown of the missiles at Oscar Flight. This, again, is documented very clearly in the FOIA documents, again as James Carlson details in his book.

Unfortunately Dolan did a quick read of Carlson’s book and Dolan has an ETH bias.

I also found it curious that Dolan says he still believes Salas after it was all said and done.

The ETH has kind of fallen out of favor as the main meme. Now the ultraterrestrial hypothesis is climbing the meme ladder since it’s been noticed these objects change shape,disappear into thin air and other paranormal-like behaviors are exhibited.

I still find Dolan a credible researcher, perhaps one of the top ones. And it’s hard to find one in this time of 15 minutes of fame circus acts!